Parole of Brockton juvenile killer sets off debate

Experts are unsure what impact the parole of Frederick Christian will have on other inmates sentenced to life without parole as juveniles.

Staff Reporter

BROCKTON – Convicted killer Frederick Christian, 37, has moved one step closer to freedom, but experts are unsure what that means for the 62 other prisoners sentenced to life without parole before they reached adulthood.Last Thursday, Christian was granted parole a week after he became one of the first prisoners sentenced to life without parole as a juvenile to appear before the Parole Board after the state’s Supreme Judicial Court ruled last year that the sentence was a cruel and unusual punishment for juveniles.

The ruling came after a 2012 U.S. Supreme Court decision that struck down mandatory life sentencing laws for minors.

Christian had received the life without parole sentence for his participation in a 1994 Brockton armed robbery that left two men dead and another wounded. Christian’s friend, Russell Horton, 18, was the shooter.

“It’s hard to say from this case what will happen in any of the other cases,” Naoka Carey, the executive director of Citizens for Juvenile Justice. “My sense is that every case is very, very different not just in the circumstances of the crime, but what that person has done since the crime.”

In Massachusetts, Christian and 62 other prisoners, including Joseph Donovan who had his parole hearing on the same day as Christian and is still awaiting a decision, were sentenced to life in prison without parole.

Of those 63 prisoners, over 40 percent of them were sentenced to life without parole despite not being the individual to inflict the fatal blow, according to the Massachusetts Coalition for the Fair Sentencing of Youth.

Now, those prisoners will all be eligible for parole after serving 15 years of their sentence.

“Before the court’s decision, we (Massachusetts) fell on a very extreme end of things,” Carey said.

Previously, minors charged with first degree murder were tried in adult court regardless of age, and age was not taken into account during sentencing because the sentence was mandatory, Carey said.

Now, Massachusetts, like other states, is seeking to move towards the middle.

“Everyone is sort of moving away from it because the U.S. Supreme Court has really questioned it,” Carey said. “I think the overall trend is definitely away from life without parole for individuals under 18.”

The reasoning behind the opposition to life sentences without parole for juveniles is that their brains are not yet full developed.

“They don’t have the same ability as adults do to respond to their emotions, control their behavior and weigh their own actions,” Carey said.

The juvenile years are also a time when the brain is changing dramatically, meaning that juveniles can often grow into an adult that is significantly different from themselves as a minor, Carey said.

However, not all individuals watching the issue agree with getting ridding of life without parole for minors or with Christian’s parole.

“We provided the trial transcripts to the parole board and crime scene photos,” Cruz said in a statement. "Those are the best evidence in this case and they do not support the Parole Board's findings or its decision to set this double murderer free.”

During the hearing, Carlos Araujo, the surviving victim from the attack, also expressed his wishes that Christian remain behind bars.

“In five months, he would have been 18, and then we wouldn’t be here; I ask that he never be let out,” Araujo said, according to parole board’s decision.

Some groups, such as the National Organization of Victims of Juvenile Murderers, believe states like Massachusetts have gone too far by eradicating life sentences without parole for juveniles as a sentencing option.

“There are certainly horrific cases that warrant that option,” said Liz Hare, the organization’s president. “They’ve taken the life. The person who is dead doesn’t get to come from before a parole board and be alive again.”

In Massachusetts, the number of prisoners granted parole while serving a life sentence has been on the rise in recent years.

In 2011, only 12 prisoners serving life sentences were granted parole. In 2012, the number jumped to 22, and in 2013, it jumped again to 27.

Of the 27 prisoners granted parole while serving life sentences in 2013, eight of them were sentenced as juveniles.